Blog Feed: The Insight Blog

Ads with Near Field Communication (NFC) interactivity work best when they have a strong call to action and offer dynamic content, according to a large-scale trial in Reading by 13 brands including Magnum and Mercedes. The trial, carried out in the town by Kinetic and JCDecaux in March, found 78% of people who connected to [...] > read more

Stagecoach and EE launch mobile ticketing

Published on 2012-05-25 06:00:04

Everything Everywhere has joined forces with transport operator Stagecoach Group to launch the UK’s first mobile contactless ticketing trial. The mobile group hopes to begin a nationwide roll out across a select group of bus and rail services next year. The trial will be assessed at the end of the year and the companies will [...] > read more

45 Per Cent of Businesses Marketing on Mobile

Published on 2012-05-23 06:00:46

Only 45 per cent of businesses are currently using mobile as a marketing channel, according to research from digital marketing solutions provider StrongMail– and only 27 per cent are leveraging mobile messaging. That’s not a particular pretty picture, but StrongMail says it’s a sign of mobile marketing’s potential for growth. Of those companies which are [...] > read more

Mobile Barcode Usage On The Up

Published on 2012-05-19 08:34:17

Mobile barcode company Scanbuysays its platform processed 13m scans in Q1, 2012, a 157 per cent increase over the previous year. The ScanLife platform processed traffic from more than 5m unique users. The figures come the latest version of the ScanLife Mobile Barcode Trend Report, covering Q1, 2012. The report analyses consumer scanning traffic and [...] > read more

36 Per Cent of the UK Read Marketing Emails on Mobile

Published on 2012-05-18 04:44:40

36 per cent of UK consumers now read marketing emails on their mobile devices, according to a report from digital agency STEEL London– and, among 18-34 year olds, that number rises to 55 per cent. 69 per cent of people who read marketing emails on their mobile have immediately acted on it in some way [...] > read more

Retailers back instore WiFi

Published on 2012-05-17 11:38:53

IAB Mobile Engage: Retailers including Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and Dominos are open to instore WiFi despite the risk shoppers will use it to find products cheaper elsewhere. All three retailers confirmed they are exploring or expanding their uses of instore WiFi today (17 May) at IAB Mobile Engage in London. Nick Dutch, multi media [...] > read more

Google to inject more facts into search

Published on 2012-05-17 10:27:24

Google is poised to roll out a change its search engine, to include factual information about search topics, powered by a new service dubbed the ‘Knowledge Graph’. Factual information about a search term will appear as a summary in a panel on the right hand side of a search page, which it claims will help [...] > read more

Good service is key to premium online sales: study

Published on 2012-05-15 10:15:25

Almost two-thirds of consumers who buy premium products and services say they will continue to spend just as much online in 2012 as last year – despite the recession, new research suggests. A thousand respondents with an average household income of just £23,000 a year took part in the study by online retail marketing agency [...] > read more

Twitter rolls out weekly digest emails

Published on 2012-05-15 10:09:13

Twitter is set to deliver weekly email digests to its users to showcase the most popular content on its site and the stories their personal network was most engaged with. The digests will offer brands more opportunities for their content to be discovered, especially by the less frequent visitors to the social network. It could [...] > read more

Study finds year-on-year increase in use of mobile devices for online shopping

Published on 2012-05-14 10:16:25

In the year that has passed since the results of Stibo Systems’s first UK consumer survey were announced, m-commerce – including online shopping via both smartphone and tablet devices – has seen an overall uptake of 10%: the first year on year increase in m-commerce, according to the company. In 2011 30% of respondents reported [...] > read more

240m Mobile TV Users by 2014, says Juniper

Published on 2012-05-14 10:04:45

The number of users streaming mobile TV on their smartphones will increase to 240m by 2014, according to a report from Juniper Research. This growth, the analyst says, will be driven by a rise in smartphone penetration, and in the increasing usage of internet TV and IPTV services. And by 2016, the Mobile TV: Applications, [...] > read more

Bing steps up challenge to Google with new ‘social search’ feature

Published on 2012-05-11 10:56:22

Microsoft is rolling out an update to Bing that brings in results from users’ Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn data, in a bid to challenge Google’s new social search service. The internet and tech giant is rolling out redesign of the Bing homepage which introduces a social sidebar, incorporating results from a user’s social network contacts, [...] > read more

Half of UK internet users say online ads worth it for free content

Published on 2012-05-09 11:01:59

Half of UK internet users are happy to see online advertising because it supports online services and content at little to no cost, with only one in 10 are willing to pay for ad-free content, according to a new report from the IAB and ValueClick. The findings come from a report published by the IAB [...] > read more

MasterCard readies e-wallet services

Published on 2012-05-07 11:35:46

MasterCard is launching a digital payment tool, Paypass Wallet, that it says will connect digital wallets from other brands in a bid to “simplify” the shopping experience and accelerate the take up of digital payments. The service is expected to launch later this year and will allow brands and banks to develop bespoke e-wallets. Shoppers [...] > read more

Fun vs Functional

Published on 2012-05-03 10:42:21

Social apps are the most frequently used type of app on smartphones, according to research from Lightspeed Research. 73 per cent of smartphone users access social networks through apps on a daily basis, and a further 19 per cent do so at least weekly. Coming in second and third place on smartphones are news apps [...] > read more

Britain is Great on Mobile, says TNS

Published on 2012-05-03 05:30:48

With a smartphone penetration of 50 per cent – as compared to 45 per cent in Germany, 40 per cent in France, and a global average of 28 per cent – the UK is leading the way on mobile, according to the latest Mobile Life report from TNS. 67 per cent of smartphone users have [...] > read more

Visa Europe to launch digital wallet to first online shoppers this autumn

Published on 2012-05-01 05:51:43

Visa Europe’s new digital wallet service will launch this autumn, the company announced today. The service, V.me by Visa, will launch initially to a group of consumers in the UK, Spain, and France. WorldPay is advising Visa on how best to meet retailers’ needs for the UK launch of the service, which will be made [...] > read more

14 Per Cent of Outdoor Ad Encounters Lead to a Mobile Search

Published on 2012-04-27 09:23:27

14 per cent of outdoor ad encounters lead to a mobile search, according to research carried out by On Device Research on behalf of the Outdoor Media Centre. That’s a percentage point higher than those who searched on their computer as a result. The research also found that 74 per cent of those surveyed had [...] > read more

O2 takes aim at PayPal with mobile payments service

Published on 2012-04-26 09:31:58

O2, the network provider, has launched its long-anticipated mobile wallet service, which enables users to make simple payments and shop using their mobile device, putting itself in competition with Barclays, Orange and PayPal. O2 Wallet is available to download for all O2 customers, as well as non-customers, from today (26 April). Users register their card [...] > read more

Retailers losing 1 in 20 sales through lack of mobile-enabled sites

Published on 2012-04-24 09:23:18

Bounce rates from mobile devices are currently 10 per cent higher than on desktops according to figures from search marketing agency, Mediarun. For retailers, this means over 5.6 per cent of all mobile traffic, and potential sales, is currently being lost through lack of a mobile-enabled website. Mediarun is currently seeing bounce rates for mobile [...] > read more

Mobile Users Keen on LBS

Published on 2012-04-24 09:08:39

Over 60 per cent of mobile users not currently engaging with location-based services (LBS) would like to start doing so, according to the latest annual Mobile Life study from TLS. The study explores mobile use among 48,000 people in 58 countries. According to the findings, 19 per cent of the world’s 6bn mobile users are [...] > read more

App demand boosts mobile ad revenues

Published on 2012-04-20 07:54:12

Brands are expected to spend £305.4m on mobile marketing in the UK during 2012 due to the rising popularity of apps, a new report reveals. The study, by research firm Strategy Analytics, reveals that advertisers are expected to more than double (108.2%) their in-app advertising spend, compared to a smaller proportion (50.6%) for display advertising. [...] > read more

Study reveals significant differences in UK shoppers’ buying behaviour across platforms

Published on 2012-04-19 08:04:21

RichRelevance, leading provider of dynamic personalisation for the world’s largest retailers and brands, has unveiled new research from its Shopping Insights organisation on mobile shopping in the UK and finds that mobile spending is on the rise. According to the study, mobile shopping continues to outpace desktop purchasing. In March, the average purchase on mobile [...] > read more

Barclaycard readies ‘mobile’ contactless card

Published on 2012-04-19 05:44:32

Barclaycard is hoping to accelerate uptake of contactless payment by launching a mobile phone accessory that can be used to buy items at any retailer offering the service. “PayTag” is designed to stick to the back of any mobile phone . It can be used by Barclaycard customers to make payments of £15 or under, [...] > read more

O2 Reveals 4G Trial Results

Published on 2012-04-18 06:16:13

O2has announced results from its UK 4G trial, coinciding neatly with the completion of the switch-over from analogue to digital TV in the UK today. The switchover will free up the airwaves to make way for 4G, following the spectrum auction, which looks most likely to take place in 2013. The trial includes 25 sites [...] > read more

NFC Transactions Set For Huge Growth

Published on 2012-04-17 05:23:44

NFC (Near Field Communication) technology will facilitate transactions valued at $74bn (£47bn) by 2015, as NFC is increasingly used to pay for goods in store, and for transport ticketing. This is over treble the estimated value of this market in 2011. The figures come from a new study from Juniper Research, which concludes that the [...] > read more

New international social gifting service launches in the UK

Published on 2012-04-13 10:36:10

Retailers including Amazon.co.uk, Urban Outfitters and John Lewis have signed up to a new social gifting service that launches in the UK this week. Facebook users can use the DropGifts service to mark their online friends’ special occasions by sending them gift cards from the retailers across Facebook. Gifts can be sent in one click [...] > read more

Mobile ticketing to quadruple by 2016 as tickets find a place in the mobile wallet

Published on 2012-04-12 09:46:49

A new report from Juniper Research has found that the number of tickets delivered to mobile phones worldwide will more than quadruple to 23 billion by 2016, compared with 4 billion tickets estimated to have been delivered during 2011. Worldwide, mobile users are now beginning to adopt mobile tickets as an integrated part of their [...] > read more

Almost half of UK consumers ‘like’ brands on Facebook: research

Published on 2012-04-10 11:09:42

Nearly half of UK consumers interact with brands on Facebook, according to new research. Some 45% of online shoppers in the UK have ‘liked’ a brand on Facebook, the Social Profile UK report from email and social media marketing specialists ExactTarget found. Of those, 24% said they were more likely to buy from the brand. [...] > read more

‘Online piggy bank’ allows teenagers to buy over the internet

Published on 2012-04-10 11:06:12

UK teenagers could soon be spending their pocket money online rather than in the corner shop, thanks to a new online service. Retailers including Kookai, BrandAlley and Pixmania have signed up as partners of the Bankiwi service, from social payments specialist Leetchi. The new service, billed as an online piggy bank, is aimed at under [...] > read more

KPMG Forecasts Mobile Payment Growth

Published on 2012-04-10 04:11:25

Global mobile payment transactions are expected to grow 97 per cent per year, over the next three years, reaching a value of £591bn by 2015, according to a new report from KPMG. The report says that the growth will be fuelled by consumer demand for NFC-enabled (Near Field Communication) devices – Tablets and smartphones able [...] > read more

Microsoft tests interactive billboards

Published on 2012-04-05 09:34:08

Internet Explorer is to use gesture controlled digital billboards to showcase how its latest browser offers consumers “the beauty of the web”. The outdoor sites will let consumers use hand and arm movements to control the content they view and engage with through an interactive menu. The Microsoft-owned software giant says it is the first [...] > read more

Google Does AR With Project Glass

Published on 2012-04-05 07:49:26

Googleis making its first serious Augmented Reality play with the development of Project Glass. It’s a pair of glasses which functions as a heads-up display of all the stuff you typically see on your mobile phone. The Google developers working on the project, Babak Parviz, Steve Lee and Sebastian Thrun revealed details in a post [...] > read more

Mobile Commerce – Smartphones and Smarter Shoppers

Published on 2012-04-02 09:42:05

Smartphones and changing consumer behaviours are rapidly re-shaping the retail sector. There are hundreds of tools to help smartphone users shop on their mobile whenever and wherever they choose. They can now get information to help with purchase decisions at the touch of a button, whether they’re shopping online or in-store. The following infographic shows [...] > read more

Domino’s hits £1m sales in a week through mobile transactions

Published on 2012-03-28 04:23:20

Domino’s Pizza has reported that more than half of its UK delivery sales are now through e-commerce and it says that for the first time, it has taken in more than £1m in sales in one week through app and mobile transactions. The company today (28 March) updated the market on its 13-week period to [...] > read more

London Overground to provide free WiFi

Published on 2012-03-26 04:15:27

The Cloud has signed a contract with London Overground to provide free WiFi access at each of its train stations, a move that comes as free urban newspaper Metro launches a marketing campaign to promote its tablet editions. Commuters on the London Overground network will be able to access 60 minutes of free WiFi each [...] > read more

Google TV will be for TV what Android is for mobile, says Google’s Dominic Allon

Published on 2012-03-22 05:12:24

Google TV will be the equivalent of what Android is for mobile, in terms of offering an open platform, according to Google director Dominic Allon. Speaking at Carat’s Redefining TV event today, Allon said the industry is in the midst of a revolutionary change in which the TV is colliding with the internet. “The internet [...] > read more

Mobile advertising spend more than doubles to £203m in 2011, as brands invest in display ads around apps growth, says IAB

Published on 2012-03-21 05:18:43

Advertising on mobile devices rocketed by 157% in 2011, to a new high of £203.2 million, according to the annual IAB and PwC mobile advertising spend study, sparked by a boom in smartphone and tablet ownership, apps, second screening and cheaper data. With smartphone ownership standing at 53% of the UK population, the proliferation of [...] > read more

Oasis to roll out iPads across its stores nationwide

Published on 2012-03-20 12:20:12

Fashion retailer Oasis plans to introduce iPad shopping to its stores across the UK, following the success of the technology in its flagship London store. The company introduced the tablet computers as a point of sale when it launched its Argyll Street flagship store in London last year. Now it says the move was such [...] > read more

Display helps mobile ad spend pass £200m

Published on 2012-03-20 12:12:04

UK mobile ad spend soared 157% last year to surpass £203m, driven by the growth in smartphone ownership and a rise in mobile display advertising. The trade body’s annual Mobile Adspend study, compiled with PWC, revealed that total spend hit £203.2m in 2011 compared with £83m the previous year (see chart below). At £134.4m, search [...] > read more

ITV News relaunches as multiplatform video-streaming service

Published on 2012-03-19 09:48:41

ITV News has relaunched as a 24-hour, platform-agnostic streaming service in a bid to reach new digital audiences. The broadcaster has overhauled its news website to focus on rolling live video streams, also optimised for smartphone and tablet devices. The site unites content from across ITV’s news portfolio, including Daybreak, ITN, and its nine regional [...] > read more

M-Commerce market set to accelerate with NFC facilitating $74bn transactions by 2015

Published on 2012-03-18 09:42:56

A new study by Juniper Research forecasts that NFC will facilitate transactions valued at $74billion by 2015 as NFC is increasingly used for the payment of goods in-store and as transport tickets. This is more than treble the estimated value of this market in 2011. The increasing use of mobile devices as an alternative to [...] > read more

PayPal launches rival mobile payment service to Square

Published on 2012-03-16 09:52:59

PayPal has launched a mobile payments service that turns smartphones into credit card readers. The service, dubbed PayPal Here, puts the company in competition with Square, the mobile payments ecosystem launched by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Square posted revenues of $4bn last year and is installed in New York taxi cabs. PayPal Here allows merchants, [...] > read more

Starbucks claims 5.1m Twitter impressions in latte giveaway

Published on 2012-03-16 09:51:07

Starbucks claims its free latte giveaway initiative earlier this weekto introduce its stronger British drink and personalised service achieved more than 5 million Twitter impressions. More than 25,000 tweets were sent using the #freestarbucks hashtag which Starbucks claims created 5.12 million Twitter impressions over the course of the day. The coffee chain says that it [...] > read more

Facebook introduces Interest Lists to allow greater control over content

Published on 2012-03-09 10:36:39

Facebook has launched Interest Lists, allowing users to organise content and topics into ‘personalised newspapers’. The new feature allows people to create personalised feeds for their topics or interests, which can be populated with pages and people that you are either friends with or subscribe to. Eric Faller, a software engineer at Facebook, said, “Interest [...] > read more

Research points to widespread smartphone take-up this year

Published on 2012-03-09 10:29:57

Some 72% of shoppers believe they will own a smartphone by the end of the year, according to research commissioned by Savvy Marketing. Over half (51%) of the 998 shoppers questioned by independent market research agency PCP Market Research already had a smartphone, with that proportion set to increase dramatically by the end of the [...] > read more

Percentage of online sales through mobile devices breaks 5% barrier

Published on 2012-03-08 10:02:03

The popularity of shopping through mobile devices is continuing to grow at remarkable speed, with sales through mobile devices penetrating the 5% barrier of total e-retail sales for the first time. In Q4 of 2011, mobile sales accounted for 5.3% of e-retail sales, which has shot up from 0.4% over the space of just two [...] > read more

Retailers Look to CFM Technology to elevate the in-store customer experience

Published on 2012-03-01 10:03:20

Four out of five senior retail decision makers see improved customer satisfaction as a potential benefit of being able to link customers to the most appropriately skilled sales or service person, with 36% stating this is now one of their key investment priorities, according to new research from Qmatic. In the report called “Customer Flow [...] > read more

Mobile Time Spend Overtakes TV, says InMobi

Published on 2012-02-29 06:06:49

Mobile has surpassed TV in terms of time spent, according to a survey from mobile ad network InMobi– with mobile web users using mobile for 27 per cent of their media time, and 22 per cent on TV. Online is still king, however, taking up 32 per cent of users’ time on media. Other findings [...] > read more

Twitter expands mobile ads to apps

Published on 2012-02-29 06:00:30

Twitter is to start rolling out its ad products to its mobile apps, further expanding the reach of its commercial services. The full suite of Promoted products, including Promoted Trends and Promoted Tweets, will soon be across the iPhone and Android Twitter apps, with Promoted Accounts already on the latest updates. The ads have been [...] > read more

The Oscars making the case for Second Screen Viewing strategies

Published on 2012-02-28 11:53:30

2012 is shaping up to be the year of social ‘everything’ from social CRM to the social customer and social TV is no exception. Consumers are turning to the so-called second screen like never before. A 2011 whitepaper prepared by Yahoo/Nielsen reported that as many as 86 percent of viewers use mobile devices while watching [...] > read more

Top 50 online retailers in the UK: Experian Hitwise Report

Published on 2012-02-24 07:13:53

Argos is the second most visited online retailer in the UK behind Amazon, reclaiming second place from Apple, according to new data. The research, from Experian Hitwise and IMRG, indicates that Electronics retailers Currys (ranked 15), Comet (30), and PC World (38) all rose up the Hot Shops list this quarter. Currys and PC World [...] > read more

Orange Quick Tap Treats

Published on 2012-02-24 06:52:53

Orange customers can tap special posters with their handsets to claim a free treat from food chain Eat. The Quick Tap Treats deal uses near field communication technology (NFC) – launched last year to allow users to make contactless payments in shops with their handsets. Read the full article: > read more

What to expect at Mobile World Congress 2012

Published on 2012-02-24 06:42:07

Revenue-building strategies for mobile-phone operators, financial services in a mobile world and how to capture more of the connected consumer’s time and money — these are just some of the topics likely to be front and center when 60,000 delegates from the mobile-telecoms industry descend on Barcelona for the annual Mobile World Congress. The agenda-setting [...] > read more

Mobile AOVs surpass online for Furniture Village

Published on 2012-02-23 10:34:16

Having just launched its mobile commerce site in January, Furniture Village says that average basket values have already surpassed those of its main website. In addition, more than one in five visitors now arrive at the website via a smartphone or tablet. You might not expect big ticket items like furniture to appeal to mobile shoppers, [...] > read more

Sir Richard Branson wins rights to richardbranson.xxx

Published on 2012-02-23 10:16:35

Sir Richard Branson has won control of the domain name richardbranson.xxx. The tycoon had been in dispute with Australian Sean Truman, who registered the domain name last year. The National Arbitration Forum (NAF), a US-based adjudication body, ruled that Mr Truman had registered and used richardbranson.xxx "in bad faith". > read more

UK is eBay’s fastest growing market

Published on 2012-02-21 10:04:23

The UK is eBay‘s fastest growing market, the marketplace giant has said. Devin Wenig, eBay’s president of global marketplaces, is reported as saying the number of Britons using the marketplace site had shown “double-digit growth, year-on-year,” that outpaces the average for ecommerce. That average is put at 15% globally by online etailers association the IMRG. [...] > read more

Eurostar launches ‘live’ ad platform

Published on 2012-02-21 09:57:10

Eurostar is launching a “live” advertising platform in a move to integrate social media and consumers’ conversations into its mainstream advertising. The Eurostar Live platform will launch on 23 February with a campaign promoting the international train service’s connection from London to Amsterdam, via Brussels and is also expected to be part of the brand’s [...] > read more

Smartphone ownership reaches UK tipping point

Published on 2012-02-21 09:54:02

Over half of all Britons now own a smartphone, with Microsoft’s Windows Phone forecast to accelerate its share of the market, according to figures from the latest Kantar Worldpanel Comtech study. The figures from the market-intelligence firm suggest that 50.3% of the population of Great Britain own a smartphone, with such devices accounting for 71.4% [...] > read more

FMCGs boost 2011 mobile ad spend

Published on 2012-02-21 09:52:36

FMCG was the fastest growing vertical in the mobile advertising sector last year and accounted for over a tenth of total spend, according to Madvertise. Madvertise, which serves over 1.6bn page impressions per month, charted the top ten verticals by spend on its network and found that telecoms is still the biggest advertiser on mobile [...] > read more

Clear navigation boosts consumers’ positive feelings towards the UK’s general retail brands

Published on 2012-02-20 04:31:46

Making it easy to navigate a site can have a huge effect on the way customers feel about the UK’s general online retailers, according to the latest e-Performance ObservatoryGeneral Retail Online study from usability specialist Yuseo. More than 1,400 web users took part in the research, of whom 69% were women, 26% were aged between [...] > read more

Online Marketing

Blog Feed: The Insight Blog

Home > Blog Directory > Newest Posts > Blog Feed: The Insight Blog